1. Technical Field
This invention relates to the field of electrosurgery. More particularly, the invention relates to electrosurgical instruments that facilitate the performance of electrosurgery while reducing the amount of fatigue experienced by a physician performing an electrosurgical procedure.
2. The Relevant Technology
As is known to those skilled in the art, modern surgical techniques typically employ radio frequency (RF) power to cut tissue and coagulate bleeding encountered in performing surgical procedures. For a historical perspective and details of such techniques, reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 4,936,842, issued to D'Amelio et al., and entitled “Electroprobe Apparatus,” the disclosure of which is incorporated by this reference.
As is known to those skilled in the medical arts, electrosurgery is widely used and offers many advantages including the use of a single surgical instrument for both cutting and coagulation. A monopolar electrosurgical generator system has an active electrode, such as in the form of an electrosurgical instrument having a hand piece and a conductive electrode or tip, which is applied by the surgeon to the patient at the surgical site to perform surgery and a return electrode to connect the patient back to the generator.
The electrode or tip of the electrosurgical instrument is small at the point of contact with the patient to produce an RF current with a high current density in order to produce a surgical effect of cutting or coagulating tissue. The return electrode carries the same RF current provided to the electrode or tip of the electrosurgical instrument, thus providing a path back to the electrosurgical generator.
To make the electrical connection for the RF current between the electrosurgical generator and the electrosurgical instrument, a cable having an electrically conductive core extends from the electrosurgical generator to the electrosurgical instrument. The cable may also include a cord with additional conductors. The cord provides a connection for transmitting control signals from the electrosurgical instrument to the electrosurgical generator. The control signals may be used to cause the generator to deliver RF currents for different cutting modes such as cut, coagulate, and cut-coagulate blend.
The cable has certain flexibility and weight characteristics that limit the ability of the physician during a surgical procedure. For example, the weight/moment-arm effect, and drag of the cable electrically linking the generator and the electrosurgical instrument and the connection location of the cable and the electrosurgical instrument limit the physician's ability to continually hold and use the electrosurgical instrument. The electrode or tip is received within one end of the hand piece (commonly referred to as a pencil) and the cable typically enters into the opposite end of the hand piece. As the physician manipulates the electrosurgical instrument during a surgical procedure, the weight of the cable continually pulls the end of the electrosurgical instrument to which it is attached. More specifically, as the physician moves his or her wrist or adjusts the orientation of the electrosurgical instrument with his or her fingers so as to bring the electrode into contact with the patient's tissue, the weight of the cable resists the physician's movement. The constant resistance or drag created by the cable can cause the physician to become fatigued during a surgical procedure that requires extensive and continual use of the electrosurgical instrument.
Additionally, many electrosurgical procedures are performed on very sensitive parts of the body, such as on or around the eyes. When performing such procedures, the physician must control the movements of the electrode with great precision and accuracy. The resistance or drag created by the cable can make it more difficult for the physician to be as precise and accurate. For instance, when moving the electrosurgical instrument to make a delicate incision, the physician must accurately compensate for the cable resistance. If the physician overcompensates, an incision that is too deep or too long can result. Alternatively, if the physician undercompensates, multiple passes may be required to achieve the desired incision. Furthermore, the fatigue caused by the cable resistance can adversely affect the physician's ability to accurately compensate for the cable resistance.
The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to embodiments that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one exemplary technology area where some embodiments described herein may be practiced.